Deloris Fields: Young mom faces cancer while raising her baby

The happiest day of Deloris Fields’ life came last Dec. 3 when she welcomed her beautiful, healthy baby boy into the world at St. David’s North Austin Medical Center. On her own birthday, no less.

Surrounded by her family and relatives, who toasted her with pizza and Champagne, Fields cradled Connor in her arms and took in all the love and caring like the $3 gown she wore with hearts all over it. She had purchased it at Wal-Mart for this special occasion.

“He was looking right in my eyes, and I said, ‘We did it,’” a beaming Fields, 26, says of her child. “He was so beautiful. I was so in love with him.”

American-Statesman Staff

Deloris Fields was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer on Dec. 4, 2015, the day after her son, Connor Guenther, was born on her birthday. Fields worries about him growing up without her. RESHMA KIRPALANI /AMERICAN-STATESMAN

Her overwhelming joy was short-lived.

Fields had complained of severe back problems for much of her pregnancy but was unable to receive medication or take X-rays. The single mother was constantly reassured that her intense pain was a byproduct of carrying a baby to term and she shouldn’t worry.

Just hours after the delivery, the medical team took X-rays, and it wasn’t long before her gynecologist rushed into her room, aghast that the pictures had revealed a return of her aggressive breast cancer.

“They were lit up like a Christmas tree,” Fields says. “Tumors everywhere.”

Fields was told to contact her family immediately and that she needed to reach out to a priest.

Her gynecologist told her “she didn’t think I’d make it to New Year’s,” Fields said.

She did, however. And beyond.

These days, her radiant smile and positive outlook light up the small living room in her cramped, one-bedroom apartment in an old 1910 Taylor home that was converted into four apartments. A mattress and odd assortments of furniture and belongings clutter the stairs to her apartment.

Her life’s in some turmoil, but she won’t back down from the challenge of dealing with her mortality and raising her 11-month-old son.

Three years ago, when she discovered a lump in her breast, this mentally strong, fiercely proud daughter of Marine parents underwent a bilateral mastectomy.

“My spirit was not that broken up because I was too focused on what was going on,” Fields says. “I was saving money, spending time with family. I was making the most money I’d ever made and the happiest I’d ever been. All of a sudden I hit a brick wall. Nobody prepares in their 20s for cancer.”

She struggled to maintain hope, though, after a breakup with a longtime boyfriend, financial setbacks and demanding jobs working in the food industry.

Yet she battled through and was told her cancer had gone into remission. Now the cancer has metastasized into her bones, and she has had more rounds of radiation and chemotherapy and other treatments that zap her strength and her energy but none of her zest for life and pride in her son.

“I wanted to get it done and beat it up,” Fields says optimistically. “How dare you infiltrate my body and mess up my plans? I wanted to kick cancer’s (expletive). I have a beautiful son, my little miracle.”